[ Reviewed by: Morgan ] - [ Date: Sunday, 16th July, 2000 ]

 

Perhaps the fact that I haven't played Quake II in a while gave this map an advantage but I absolutely loved it. It was a little brief and perhaps a little easy even on Hard - I played through in about 10 minutes without dying - but it was a gem all the same. Aside from the couple of minor points that Jay picked out, it was a great looking map, and the "new" textures gave it a fresh look that really lifted it. Though the path you have to follow is, indeed, somewhat linear, it's very pleasingly structured, with you looping round on yourself numerous times. There is, perhaps, a little too much scope for falling down and having to retrace your steps for quite a distance but it still a very elegant design. It was also a bit of a shame that the two maps couldn't be compiled into one - as explained in the text file - because that would have driven the pace even higher than it is already but, other than that, there's very little wrong here.

 

 

[ Reviewed by: Jay ] - [ Date: Monday, 3rd April, 2000 ]

 

This is an updated version of the original review, changed after errors in the original review were pointed out to me. Even if you think you recognize the next paragraph, but have not seen this sentence before, please read the whole review from scratch.

 

It's been said before, but that hasn't stopped me yet - new single-player Quake 2 maps are few and far between these days, but when they do come, they're far superior to the average a year or two ago. The mediocre authors have either become very good by now, or they've moved on to other games, and authors that consistenly have produced good SPQ2 maps (which pretty well describes Kona) still return to SPQ2 now and then, fortunately for us SPQ2 fanatics. When last we saw Mel (in Q2, that is), he was on his third battle, but only second against the Strogg. We SPQ2 bigots are fortunate that Kona decided that Mel's latest adventure would pit him (and us) against the Strogg once more.

 

The story is short and sweet, and sets the stage nicely, but you would be able to get along quite nicely without it. This is one of those "...move in whatever direction currently is open, and blow away anything that moves..." kind of experiences. The Baddies have occupied an ancient castle - an environment which afficionados of Classic Quake know and love - and are threatening Mel in his seclusion, and Mel being a killer simply has to deal with this intolerable situation. The F1 computer says it all - "Annihilate all enemies". Simple.

 

Well, not really simple at that. The objective is not all that intellectually challenging, granted, but Kona is not about to let us off lightly. I was gibs within a couple of minutes of starting the map - death is Nature's way of telling us we were a wee tad hasty, there. Kona does not throw dozens of enemies at Mel the way we saw Mark Shan do recently in Magic Lamber Forever, but with between 122 and 156 Strogg (depending on skill level; I faced 141 of them), this means that the groups of two to five Strogg, and sometimes a couple more, occur more frequently throughout the map. If one compares the 141 enemies of both maps of Mel Soaring 5 to the similar number in the first level of Magic Lamber Forever, the smaller groups of enemies means more groups, and thus more combat opportunities. When approaching a door, it is a really safe bet that something nasty will be found on the other side, just waiting to eat your face. Ammo is plentiful, and Mel starts out with blaster, shotgun, and a pocket-full of grenades, and quickly acquires the DBS and machine gun. This is not a gift from Kona, but merely necessary for survival. While not stingy with ammo, Kona keeps you on a fairly strict diet of health, much more so in the beginning than the end. Not an impossible exercise by any means, but no cakewalk, either.

 

One interesting aspect which I only discovered on replaying the map, but could have figured out on the first pass through - it is possible to double back and get a different shooting angle on discovered enemies. This is a nifty aspect of the layout, and helps alleviate the otherwise very linear feel to the map.

 

I mentioned the castle earlier. While Quake fans will recognize the visual look and feel of textures, particularly in the early going, the shapes are not tye typical human rectangular rooms with a roof and occasionally a circular stairs. Rigby Castle has plenty of curves and odd turnings. Though the action takes place on three levels (including subterranean - that's underground to a Marine), all except the below-ground area is open to the stars, of which there are lots. I enjoyed the visuals, since Kona put in plenty of variation so that it was not all the same mottled brown stone. The sky visible most places is gorgeous, and includes a moon with patterns of light and dark that my mind kept trying to force into the Man In The Moon - but Kona avoided that trap and used a different picture, or at least sufficiently befuddled my mind that the pattern never did fit the familiar. There are some visual anomalies which players who like to explore and look around a lot (as opposed to those who want to see how quickly they can get through) will find. These turn out to be inherent in the Quake 2 engine - one of the errors I made in the original draft of this review was attributing them to design under Kona's control, which was unfair, though due to ignorance on my part.

 

When all is said and done, I think I'll end up putting the Mel Soaring 5 starter icon into my Good folder, where it is among the very best of that particular folder. Though one can double back some, I am not sure I could play it a third time and still feel it was a different game each time, at least not within the next six months or so. Maybe if it had been a tad longer, I would decide otherwise, but replayability is probably my main judgment criterion. I suspect that other folks who focus more on outstanding graphics would rate this one Superb, because the visuals are among the best I've seen, and it was tremendous fun while it lasted. However one calls it, though, Good or Superb, it is definitely one that you must not miss if you like SPQ2 at all. Go get it now, play it, and give Kona your opinion - feedback is the only payment authors like him who provide us the free maps ever get for their labors.